Story & photos by Lura Roti, for Land & Livestock
It wasn’t too many years ago that Jim Schade didn’t know grapes could be grown in South Dakota. Turns out, they can, and today he and his wife, Nancy, enjoy sharing the story of the South Dakota grape and wine industry with the several thousand visitors who tour their winery and tasting room each year.
Jim and Nancy Schade, owners of Schade Winery near Volga, S.D., opened their winery in 2000.
“When we tell people 100 percent of the grapes we use in our wine are either grown in our vineyard here or grown within 100 miles of Volga, they ask me the same question I once asked: ‘Can you grow grapes in South Dakota?’ It’s really gratifying to say yes and share the story of South Dakota’s wine industry with them,’” says the winemaker and co-owner of Schade Winery in Volga, S.D.
Schade learned that grapes could be grown in the state about 15 years ago when he met a grape grower living near Pierre. He and Nancy had recently moved back to South Dakota from Sacramento, Calif., and were looking for local fruit they could use to make wine.
Hobby winemakers for years, the couple missed the tour and tasting outings they used to take in California’s Napa Valley, so after Schade retired from state government, they set out to recreate a similar experience by opening a winery in South Dakota.
The Farm Winery Act
Schade Winery is one of 17 active wineries that manufacture and sell wine in South Dakota. A relatively young industry, the business of makingwine in South Dakota has grown exponentially since its start in 1996 says Schade, who currently serves as president of the State’s Wine Growers Association.
“Nationally wine consumption is skyrocketing and in South Dakota it’s no different. Of all the wine sold in South Dakota, South Dakota wine makes up 7 percent of the market – this is as high as any state around us and we’re very proud of this,” Schade says.
Until 1996 the wine industry did not exist in South Dakota because it was illegal to make and sell wine.
“Under federal law you could make 200 gallons a year, but you could not sell this,” says Schade, who understands the law well. In his previous career he worked for the South Dakota Department of Revenue monitoring the collection of liquor taxes.
Four years before the Schades took their hobby to the next level, Eldon Nygaard was busy working on a bill that would make farm wineries legal in the state. In 1996 he wrote the Farm Winery Act, which allowed wineries in the state to become licensed and sell the wine they produced. The act became law the same year.
“The Farm Winery Act was the biggest single thing that happened in our state to launch the wine industry,” says Schade, who supported Nygaard in his efforts.
A state senator from the Vermillion area, Nygaard’s journey to opening the state’s first winery somewhat mirrors that of the Schade’s. He developed an interest in making wine in his high school chemistry class. He learned how to distill in class; went home and built a miniature glass still and made a batch of mulberry wine. That was in 1963.
On a visit to California he realized there was a profit to be had in the wine industry.
“I learned that vineyards were worth several thousand dollars per acre and thought if land were worth that much, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could convert some South Dakota corn fields to vineyards,” says Nygaard, of the vision which led him to purchase 160 acres of land near Viborg 30 years ago.
Since 1996 a handful of entrepreneurs have shared Nygaard and Schade’s vision; creating a wine country experience for visitors throughout South Dakota with winery tours, tasting counters and events.
The wine industry not only adds to the state’s tourism options, but it also helps drive economic development in the rural communities they serve, says Cheri Rath, executive director of the Value Added Agriculture Development Center.
“Wineries provide a variety of employment opportunities for people. They help bring an economic spark to our rural communities,” Rath says.
You can grow grapes in South Dakota.
Professor of Horticulture at South Dakota State University Anne Fennell has been involved in viniculture since the 1970s. She picked grapes to earn extra money as a high school student. She came back to the fruit, Ph.D. in hand, when she helped a grape physiologist and breeder at the University of Minnesota identify important characteristics needed in winter-hardy cultivars. Today, the SDSU grape genomist works with plant breeders at the university.
In her research, Fennell works to understand the genes behind specific characteristics so breeders can use this information to develop superior plants.
“Grapes are a long-term plant and very expensive to put in, so we want to develop the best varieties for each region,” Fennell says.
Nygaard and Schade rely on Fennell’s advice, and information from grape specialists in other northern states, such as Minnesota, when selecting the varieties they grows in their vineyards, or provide to growers to raise for them.
“We can’t grow what works in California. It’s just impossible,” Schade says. “So we rely on grape varieties that have been developed by breeders in South Dakota and Minnesota.”
Grape varieties that grow well in South Dakota and survive the tough winter weather include; Frontenac, La Crescent, Frontenac Gris, Prairie Star, Sabrevois and Marquette says, Russ Bortnem, an airline pilot turned grape grower.
“I don’t do anything to protect them during the winter – these grapes are developed to withstand the winters,” says Bortnem, who sells all the grapes he raises to Schade Winery.
He explains that his second career got its roots when he and his wife were impressed by the vineyards they saw in California while touring the country in an RV after retirement. Growing up on a farm near Volga, Bortnem and his wife, Laura, decided to start their own vineyard on pastureland along the shores of Lake Campbell where Bortnem remembers his family’s cattle grazing.
“We started growing grapes without knowing anything about it,” Bortnem, 74, says of the labor intensive work.
He and Laura hand planted the 1,500 plants, built the trellises which support the more than 4 acres of plants, and with the help of about 59 friends and acquaintances, hand pick the fruit each year.
“We have a great time at harvest. My wife furnishes a big lunch after harvest and we all stomp some grapes,” Bortnem says. “We work hard in our old age. At the end of the day we may be tired and sore – but we’re happy.”
The Bortnems planted their first vines in 2005 and their second batch in 2008. Each year his yields increase. In 2011, he harvested 12,200 pounds of grapes.
It takes about three years before the first harvest and about seven years for the vines to mature. Bortnem explains that once they mature, a grape vine’s life expectancy is anywhere from 50 to 150 years.
With this kind of longevity, the future of South Dakota’s wine industry is bright says Nygaard.
“In 16 short years we’ve captured more than 7 percent of the state’s wine market,” says Nygaard, whose son, Leif, is now managing Valiant Vineyards and joins his dad as the winery’s award-winning winemaker. “Wineries in our state not only sell locally, but ship wine around the world – Valiant ships wine to China and Europe.”
To learn more about South Dakota wineries visit, Exploresdwinecountry.com.
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